Hungarian Foreign Minister Kinga Goncz said Monday she would propose to her government to recognise Kosovo, the MTI news agency reported.

"I will propose to the government to set in motion the necessary recognition process and that the president takes the necessary steps to open diplomatic relations," the minister told Hungarian journalists in Brussels, where she was attending a meeting of EU foreign ministers.

"Serbia is an important partner for Hungary, and Budapest wants to maintain the rich tissue of relations, human, cultural, economic and political, with Serbia," she added.

Last week, Goncz was reluctant to say whether Hungary would be one of the first countries to recognise an independent Kosovo.

Hungary is watching developments very closely because a sizeable Hungarian minority of around 350,000 people live in northern Serbia.

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